


On Not Burying your Gays – a brief thought about Andy’s storyline in The Old Guard

by LightDescending



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canon Bisexual Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Essays, Gen, Meta, Mortality, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Temporary Character Death, Trope Subversion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25768336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightDescending/pseuds/LightDescending
Summary: I watched the Old Guard shortly after it was released, and was delighted utterly by the Immortal Husbands - the unkillable gays! Even more so that they were unkillable by design.“I wasn’t gonna turn around and be like, ‘Well now I’m going to ruin my one happy couple,’” Rucka laughs.But they aren't the only queer characters; we come to the mid-point of the movie, and to Andy’s crisis moment in the cave and in the pharmacy. "Oh here we go," I thought in dismay -- and the rest of the film proceeded to subvert my expectations without sacrificing narrative tension, and did so by design.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72
Collections: The Old Guard Resources





	On Not Burying your Gays – a brief thought about Andy’s storyline in The Old Guard

This post was [originally made on Tumblr](https://lightdescending.tumblr.com/post/623899903604703232/on-not-burying-your-gays-andys-storyline), and I decided to back it up here as well. I watched the Old Guard earlier this week, and it has scratched a media itch I needed. A lot has been written both here on tumblr and externally about [the diversity in the film](https://www.wired.com/story/the-old-guard-gina-prince-bythewood/) [1], and the [directorial intent behind how things were shot](https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/14/21324310/gina-prince-bythewood-director-the-old-guard-netflix-sequel-interview) [2].

There’s even an article where Rucka discusses why he deliberately, intentionally, [would not bury his gays](https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/11/21316601/the-old-guard-charlize-theron-queer-gay-characters-representation-greg-rucka) [3]. 

> “I wasn’t gonna turn around and be like, ‘Well now I’m going to ruin my one happy couple,’” Rucka laughs. 

Then we come to the mid-point of the movie, and to Andy’s crisis moment in the cave and in the pharmacy.

Rucka [talks about why he wrote this kind of arc](https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/15/21317952/the-old-guard-charlize-theron-andromache-explained-comic-changes) [4] for Andy differently than in the comics, where she retains her immortality, which I’ll quote:

> “What that does is it puts Andy into immediate crisis,” Rucka said. “She has to absolutely confront things that she has not been willing to confront, and she has to reach a termination. One of the things that she’s grappling with throughout the movie is [that] she wants it over — or she believes she does. She believes she wants to die. So, _let’s give her what she wants, and see how she handles it_. There’s a thematic dividend to be gotten from that.”

Andromache of Scythia is canonically bisexual in the comics. In the film, she wears Quynh’s necklace _constantly_ and the two of them have intense chemistry. I also clocked the way that she and Celeste the clerk were looking at each other – and while the tender intimacy of that hurt/comfort interaction has a simpler explanation, one of solidarity between women, I read other layers of connection possible there too. Her relationship to Rodin is mentioned (“probably [knew him] biblically”, Booker says) – so there’s evidence in the film canon that Andy is bisexual here too.

So when Andy touches her shoulder and it comes away bloody from a wound that isn’t healing – when the film starts to explore the impact that losing her immortality is having on her – I resigned myself.

 _At least we have Joe and Nicky_ , I thought in dismay. _Those two are still immortal._

But I was pre-emptively mourning. I fully expected her to die by the end of the film.

It’d take a longer essay to unpack the trope of [burying your gays](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Bury_Your_Gays) [5] and I might write that at some point about this movie. Andy means a lot to me as a character – her jadedness and nihilism, the toll that existing has taken on her ability to believe in humanity, her endurance in spite of herself. Gina said in one of the interviews linked above that both Andy and Nile had this innate strength to them – and, to me, Andy’s competence and pragmatism are inherently attractive, as are her short hair and clothing choices and bearing. She’s queer, practical, kicking ass, and I love it.

So when she is revealed to be mortal… I braced myself for the direction I expected her arc to take. Even the way she was talking about her own mortality – _Next time, you’ll get to go first_ she says to Nile – felt like the set up for a more expected “passing-of-the-torch” narrative. The leader of the Old Guard must die in order for the newbie protégé Nile Freeman to ascend to her place in the team. Nile is shown to be both competent _and_ a necessary refreshment of the ideals and purpose of the group. It would have made sense for Andy’s death to occur.

And then it didn’t.

Instead, as Andy takes the lead – as she normally does – the stakes are raised. All her training, years of experience, and ability are there. In one scene, she glances around the corner to see a highly armed man, swears under her breath, then launches into an attack with a fire axe. Her moves are similar to those which we’ve seen previously. But the tension was there for me as a viewer:

She _could have died_.

You see this in Andy’s face, her bearings, this new level of caution in the way that she’s moving.

Likewise, in the climactic scenes of the movie, Nile watches out for Andy. Andy is used to being in the front and another Tumblr user (cirquedesorrel) has [written some brilliant meta](https://cirquedusorrel.tumblr.com/post/623579511500554200) about the way that the others on the team follow Nile’s lead in literally taking bullets to protect Andy as they move to breach Merrick’s office.

And yet, at the end of the movie, Andy is still alive.

She _can_ die. She is mortal. There’s now a time limit on how long she has to set the rest of the Immortals up for whatever comes next – and with Quynh’s reappearance, there’s a potential threat behind the scenes, and one with personal meaning. But she’s _alive,_ and still surrounded by the love and care of the other immortals. Nile needs her around, and they get that time; in fact, Nile’s continual reassurance to Andy that her demise is neither imminent nor inevitable kept some hope alive in me as a viewer ( _You’ll spend [your time left] with us, Andy,_ she says). I was incredibly moved to see that hope was not misplaced.

I cannot express how grateful or moved I was that Rucka and Prince-Blythewood went this direction with the script. Andy living raises the stakes for everyone else involved. It introduces new dynamics to the team that must be contended with, serves as character motivation, and subverted my expectations.

And taking this approach _avoided killing a queer woman on screen_ without removing any of the narrative tension in the story.

There’s more to be said about the way that Andy’s character arc in the film becomes a disability narrative, and I am not the person to write that. But I can say that I’m relieved that we have the Immortal Husbands on deck _as well as_ Andromache of Scythia, who’s lived to fight and teach and mentor another day. I still brace myself for the unhappy ending whenever a lesbian/bi/queer woman is on screen. This time, I was proven wrong. 

More stories like this, please. Ones that don’t take an easy way out, and were _envisioned that way by the director and screenwriter from the start_. 

* * *

**Sources (I got lazy and this is not a real citation style):**

  1. Polygon: “ _Director Gina Prince-Bythewood wants The Old Guard to ‘normalize our thoughts about Black people_ ’”. Tasha Robinson, posted July 14 2020.
  2. Wired: " _The Old Guard's Gina Price-Blythewood on Avoiding 'Sexy Catfights'_ ". Emma Grey Ellis, posted July 13 2020. 
  3. Polygon: “ _The Old Guard buries the ‘bury your gays’ trope with queer commandos_ ”. Susana Polo, posted July 11 2020. 
  4. Polygon: “ _The biggest change to The Old Guard comic created a ticking clock for Charlize Theron_ ”. Susana Polo, posted July 15 2020
  5. Fanlore entry: " _Bury Your Gays_ ”, last modified May 3 2020



**Author's Note:**

> I continually forget that AO3 allows the hosting of meta or fannish essays, and while this one is more of a musing than an essay I wanted to back it up somewhere it will have more permanence! Please feel free to chat with me about this; I may use this piece as a springboard for a longer meta-essay discussing how Andy's commentary and handling of her mortality acted as foreshadowing and created the expectation of her possible demise, even though Nile's reaction to it and the team's response to Andy _very clearly_ is an "oh no you don't" kind of response. If I do it's a long way off. They love her! And so do I! 
> 
> Cheers and thanks for reading.


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